Constantine XI Palaeologus | Byzantine emperor | Britannica.com Constantine XI Palaeologus Alternative Titles: Constantine XI Palaiologos, Constantine XII Palaeologus, Constantine XII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaeologus Heraclius Constantine XI Palaeologus , Palaeologus also spelled Palaiologos (born February 9, 1404, Constantinople , Byzantine Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]—died May 29, 1453, Constantinople), the last Byzantine emperor (1449–53), killed in the final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks. He is sometimes referred to as Constantine XII, based on the erroneous idea that Constantine Lascaris was crowned in 1204. Constantine was the fourth son of the emperor Manuel II and his Serbian wife, Helen, of the dynasty of Dragas in Macedonia. He spent his early career with his brothers Theodore and Thomas governing the Byzantine despotate of the Morea (Peloponnese) and completing its recovery from the Franks.

When his brother John VIII Palaeologus died childless in 1448, he was proclaimed emperor at Mistra (January 1449). He was a man of courage and energy, but he succeeded to a damnosa hereditas (“ruinous inheritance”). Mehmed II , who became Ottoman sultan in 1451, directed all his resources to the capture of Constantinople . Constantine did everything within his power to organize the defense of the city and to enlist the support of the West by acknowledging the obedience of the Greek church to Rome, but in vain. He was killed fighting at the city walls when the Turks finally broke through.

Learn More in these related articles: Konstantinas XI Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (1404 - 1453) - Genealogy Konstantinas XI Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos Konstantinas XI Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor Also Known As: "Konstantinos Palaiologos", "Константин Палеолог", "Константин XI Палеолог", "Κωνσταντίνος ΙΑ' Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος", "Constantinus XI Palaeologus" Birthdate: Killed in the Fall of Constantinople Immediate Family: Half brother of Isabella Palaiologina Occupation: Last Byzantine Emperor, *1393/7, +1400/5, paskutinis Bizantijos imperatorius Managed by: Manuel Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (geb.

Dragas) Siblings: Johannes Palaiologos, Theodoros Palaiologina, Michael Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos Wife: Manuel Ii Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologina (geb. Dragas) Siblings: Manuel Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (Dragas) Siblings: John Viii Palaiologos, Theodore Ii Palaiologos, Despot Of The Morea, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos Wife: Unknown, Helena Palaiologos (born Dragash) Siblings: Manuel Ii Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (nacida Dragas) Siblings: Johannes Viii Palaiologos, Theodoro Ii Palaiologos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Michael Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos Wife: May 29 1453 - Isztambul, Törökország Parents: Manuél Ii.

Palaiologos, Jelena Palaiologine, Bizánci Birodalom császárnéja, Szerb hercegnő. (DragaŠ) Siblings: ...iii./johannes Palaiologos, Theodoros Ii. Palaiologos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Michael Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos Wife: Maddalena/theodora Palaiologos, de Zante. Bizánci Birodalom császárnéja (Tocco) Wife: Manuel Ii Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (nacida Dragas) Siblings: ...Palaiologos, Teodoro Ii Palaiologos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Michael Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos, Andreas Pala...

Wife: Feb 9 1404 - Constantinopel, Byzantium Death: May 29 1453 - Constantinopel, Byzantium Parents: Manuel Ii Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (geboren Dragases) Brother: Feb 8 1404 - Constantinople, Byzantine Empire Death: May 29 1453 - Constantinople, Byzantine Empire Parents: Manuel Palaiologos Von Byzanz, Helena Palaiologos Von Byzanz (geb. Dragases) Siblings: Manuel II Palaiologos, Helena Dragaš Siblings: ...os, Thomas Palaiologos, Theodore II Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Constantine Palaiologos, Michael Palaiologos Wife: Manuel II. Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (born Dragas) Siblings: ...alaiologos, Theodoros II Palaiologos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Michael Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos, Andreas Pal...

Wife: Feb 8 1404 - Istanbul, Turkey Death: May 29 1453 - Istanbul, Turkey Parents: Manuel Palaiologos, Helena Palaiologos (born Dragas) Siblings: ...logos, Theodoros Palaiologos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Michael Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos, Thomas Palaiologos, Andreas Palaiologos... Wife: Maddalena Theodora Palaiologos (born Tocco) Wife: Constantine XI Dragasēs Palaiologos (February 8, 1404 – May 29, 1453) He was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor from 1449 to his death as member of the Palaiologos dynasty. After his death in battle during the fall of Constantinople, he became a legendary figure in Greek folklore as the "Marble Emperor" who would awaken and recover the Empire and Constantinople from the Turks. His death marked the end of the millenium-old Byzantine Empire, the direct continuation of the ancient Roman Empire.

About Konstantinas XI Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (Ελληνικά) Greek: Κωνσταντίνος ΙΑ' Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος О Konstantinas XI Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (русский) Serbian: Константин XI Драгаш Палеолог Konstantinas XI Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor's Timeline 1404 Constantine XI Palaiologos | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Eastern Orthodox Constantine XI Palaiologos, Latinized as Palaeologus (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος ΙΑ' Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, Kōnstantinos XI Dragasēs Palaiologos; 8 February 1404 [1] [2] – 29 May 1453) was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor [3] [4] [5] and the last Roman emperor, reigning as a member of the Palaiologos

 dynasty from 1449 to his death in battle at the fall of Constantinople .

Following his death, he became a legendary figure in Greek folklore as the " Marble Emperor " who would awaken and recover the Empire and Constantinople from the Turks. [1] [6] His death marked the end of the Roman Empire , which had continued in the East for 977 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . [7] Contents Edit Constantine was born in Constantinople [2] as the eighth of ten children to Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš , the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš . He was extremely fond of his mother and added her surname (Dragases) next to his own dynastic one when he ascended the imperial throne. He spent most of his childhood in Constantinople under the supervision of his parents. During the absence of his older brother in Italy, Constantine was regent in Constantinople from 1437–1440. Despot of the Morea Edit Constantine became the Despotes of the Morea (the medieval name for the Peloponnesus ) in October 1443, ruling from the fortress and palace in Mistra .

At the time, Mistra, a fortified town also called Sparta or Lacedaemon due to its proximity to the ancient city, [8] was a center of arts and culture rivalling Constantinople. After establishing himself as the Despot, Constantine worked to strengthen the defence of the Morea, including reconstructing a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth called the "Hexamilion" (Six-mile-wall), on the suggestion of the famous scholar and teacher of his, Plethon . [9] In summer 1444, he launched an invasion of the Latin Duchy of Athens from the Morea, swiftly conquering Thebes and Athens and forcing its Florentine duke to pay him tribute. The Duchy was ruled by Nerio II Acciaioli , a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan. The Turks, frustrated by the attempt of the Greeks to expand from the Morea into central Greece [10] started raising an invading army. Two years later, in autumn 1446, Sultan Murad II who had come out of retirement, led an army of 50–60,000 soldiers into Greece to put an end to the pretensions of Constantine.

[11] His purpose was not to conquer Morea but to teach the Greeks and their Despots a punitive lesson. [11] Constantine and his brother Thomas braced for the attack at the Hexamilion, which the Ottoman army reached on 27 November 1446. While the wall could hold against medieval attacks, Sultan Murad used bombards to supplement the usual siege engines and scaling ladders, leaving the Hexamilion in ruins by 10 December. Constantine and Thomas barely escaped, and Morea was invaded. This put an end to Constantine's attempt to expand his Despotate. Marriages Edit Constantine XI married twice: the first time on 1 July 1428 to Theodora Tocco , niece of Carlo I Tocco of Epirus, who died in November 1429; the second time to Caterina Gattilusio , daughter of Dorino of Lesbos , who also died, during childbirth, in 1442. He had no children by either marriage.

After his coronation, in 1451, Constantine XI sent a commission under George Sphrantzes asking Mara Branković , daughter of the Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković and Byzantine princess Irene Kantakouzene , by then the widow of Murad II , to marry him (Maria had been allowed to return to her parents in Serbia after the death of Murad). The proposal was welcomed by her father Đurađ Branković, but it foundered on the objection of Maria herself who had vowed that "if God ever released her from the hands of the infidel she would lead a life of celibacy and chastity for the rest of her days". [12] Accordingly, the courtship failed and Sphrantzes took steps to arrange for a marriage with a princess either from Trebizond Empire or the Kingdom of Georgia . The choice eventually fell to an unnamed Georgian princess, daughter of George VIII . He started official negotiations with the Georgian king, who had sent an ambassador in Constantinople for that reason.

[13] It was agreed that, next spring, Sphrantzes would sail for Georgia to bring the bride to Constantinople, but Constantine's plans were overtaken by the tragic events of 1453. [1] Reign as Emperor Edit Marble relief of a double-headed eagle in the Church of St Demetrios in Mystras , marking the spot where Constantine XI was crowned. Despite the foreign and domestic difficulties during his reign, which culminated in the fall of Constantinople and of the Byzantine Empire, contemporary sources generally speak respectfully of the Emperor Constantine. When his brother, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos , died childless, a dispute erupted between Constantine and his brother Demetrios Palaiologos over the throne. Demetrios drew support for his opposition to the union between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. The Empress Helena, acting as regent, supported Constantine. They appealed to the Ottoman Sultan Murad II to arbitrate the disagreement. Murad decided in favor of Constantine and on 6 January 1449 Constantine was crowned in the cathedral at Mistra by the local bishop. It was rare but not unprecedented for an emperor to be crowned in a provincial city.

The founder of the dynasty of Palaiologos had been crowned at Nicaea , Asia Minor, John Cantacuzene at Adrianople, Thrace. But they had been thought proper that a second coronation ceremony be held also at Constantinople, performed by the patriarch. Constantine was the exception. The patriarch at the time, Gregory III , was a unionist, (see East–West Schism ) shunned by most of his clergy. Constantine knew that to receive his crown from Gregory would add fuel to the existing fires of religious discord in the capital. [14] He sailed from Greece on a Venetian ship arrived in Constantinople on 12 March 1449. [14] Sultan Murad died in 1451, succeeded by his 19 year old son Mehmed II . Soon afterwards, Mehmed II began agitating for the conquest of Constantinople. Constantine responded to this by threatening to release Prince Orhan, who was a pretender to the Ottoman throne, unless Mehmed met some of his demands.

Because of this, Mehmed considered Constantine to have broken the truce and the following winter of 1451–52, Mehmed built Rumelihisari , a hill fortress on the European side of the Bosporus, just north of the city cutting the communication with the Black Sea to the east. This came in addition to the building of Anadoluhisarı , the fortress opposite of Rumelihisari on the Asian side, and gave the Ottomans absolute control over the sea traffic of the Bosporus Strait . For Constantine that was a clear prelude for a siege and immediately started organizing the defence. He managed to raise funds to stockpile foods for the upcoming siege and to repair the old Theodosian walls, but the poor state of the Byzantine economy did not allow him to raise the necessary army to defend the city against the massive Ottoman army. Desperate for any type of military assistance, Constantine XI appealed to the West reaffirming the union of Eastern and Roman Churches which had been signed at the Council of Florence , a condition the Catholic Church imposed before any help could be provided.

The union had been overwhelmingly criticized by the strong anti-union ("anthenotikoi") part of his subjects, while it dangerously estranged him from Loukas Notaras , his chief minister and military commander who was a leading anti-union figure. Finally, although some troops did arrive from the mercantile city states in the north of Italy, the Western contribution was negligible compared to the needs, given the Ottoman strength. Constantine also sought assistance from his brothers in Morea, but any help was forestalled by an Ottoman invasion of the peninsula in 1452 which took place exactly for that reason. The siege of the city began in the winter of 1452. Constantine faced the siege defending his city of 60,000 people with an army only numbering 7,000 men. Confronting the Byzantine forces was an Ottoman army numbering many times that, backed by state-of-art siege equipment provided by a very competent Hungarian arms maker named Orban . [15] Fall of Constantinople and death Edit Before the beginning of the siege , Mehmed II made an offer to Constantine XI.

In exchange for the surrender of Constantinople, the emperor's life would be spared and he would continue to rule in Mistra , to which, as preserved by G. Sphrantzes, Constantine replied: A popular depiction of Palaiologos. To surrender the city to you is beyond my authority or anyone else's who lives in it, for all of us, after taking the mutual decision, shall die out of free will without sparing our lives. He led the defence of the city and took an active part in the fighting alongside his troops in the land walls . At the same time, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain the necessary unity between the Genoese, Venetian and the Greek troops. He died on 29 May 1453, the day the city fell. His last recorded words were: "The city is fallen and I am still alive", [16] and then he tore off his imperial ornaments so as to let nothing distinguish him from any other soldier and led his remaining soldiers into a last charge where he was killed.

[17] Soldiers were sent hastily to search amongst the dead and the first that was believed to be the emperor's, a body that had silk stockings with an eagle embroidered in it, the head was decapitated and marched around the ruined capital. However, it failed to gather any recognition from the citizens of Constantinople. [18] There were no known surviving eyewitness to the death of the Emperor and none of his entourage survived to offer any credible account of his death. [19] Legacy Edit A statue of Palaiologos in Greece. A legend tells that when the Ottomans entered the city, an angel rescued the emperor, turned him into marble and placed him in a cave under the earth near the Golden Gate , where he waits to be brought to life again to conquer the city back for Christians. [20] [21] While serving as ambassador to Russia in February 1834, Ahmed Pasha presented Tsar Nicholas with a number of gifts, including a jewel-encrusted sword supposedly taken from Constantine XI's corpse. [22] Constantine XI's legacy was used as a rallying cry for Greeks during their war for Independence with the Ottoman Empire.

Today the Emperor is considered a national hero in Greece. During the Balkan Wars and the Greco-Turkish War , under the influence of the Megali Idea , the name of the then- Greek king , Constantine, was used in Greece as a popular confirmation of the prophetic myth about the Marble King who would liberate Constantinople and recreate the lost Empire. Constantine Palaiologos' legacy is still a popular theme in Greek culture. The well known contemporary composers Apostolos Kaldaras and Stamatis Spanoudakis have written elegies for the Marble King. [23] [24] Unofficial saint Some Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholics consider Constantine XI a saint (or a national martyr or ethnomartyr, Greek: ἐθνομάρτυρας). Ancestry Roger Crowley, 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. Hyperion, 2005; ISBN 1-4013-0850-3 Jonathan Harris, The End of Byzantium. Yale University Press, 2010.

ISBN 978-0-300-11786-8 Donald M. Nicol, The Immortal Emperor. Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-521-46717-9 Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, 1993, 2nd edition. ISBN 0-521-43991-4 Murr Nehme, Lina (2003). 1453: The Fall of Constantinople. Aleph Et Taw. ISBN 2-86839-816-2 . Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 1991. Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople, 1453. Cambridge University Press, 1965. ISBN 0-521-09573-5 Georgios Frantzes, Ioannes A. Melisseides, Rita Zavolea Melisseidou, " Ealo I Polis, To Chronico tes halose tes Konstantinoupoles " ( Constantinople has Fallen.

Chronicle of the Fall of Constatinople : Brief History of Events in Constantinople during the Period 1440-1453, Georgiou Frantzi, Ioannis A. Melisseidis - translator : Ioannis A. Melisseidis, Rita Zavolea Melisseidou ) 1998/2004, Ekd.Vergina, Athens. ISBN 9607171918 ISBN 139789607171917 (Worldcat, Biblionet) External links Constantine XI Palaiologos - YouTube Constantine XI Palaiologos Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Oct 25, 2015 Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos, Latinized as Palaeologus was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor, reigning as a member of the Palaiologos dynasty from 1449 to his death in battle at the fall of Constantinople. Following his death, he became a legendary figure in Greek folklore as the "Marble Emperor" who would awaken and recover the Empire and Constantinople from the Ottomans. His death marked the end of the Roman Empire, which had continued in the East for 977 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This video is targeted to blind users. Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA Creative Commons image source in video Category Konstantinos XI Dragases Palaiologos the Last Emperor - YouTube Konstantinos XI Dragases Palaiologos the Last Emperor Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Oct 20, 2009 Constantine was born in Mistra, Greece as the eighth of ten children of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš of Kumanovo. He spent most of his childhood in Constantinople under the supervision of his parents. During the absence of his older brother in Italy, Constantine was regent in Constantinople from 1437-1440. He was the Last Emperor of East Roman Greek Empire and Category Constantine XI Palaiologos | Assassin's Creed Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Constantine became Byzantine Emperor in January 1449, following a brief succession dispute after his eldest brother John VIII died in October 1448. Under Constantine's rule, Assassins in the Byzantine Empire were systematically captured and executed. [1] As the Emperor, he spearheaded the final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Empire in 1453, and managed to hold the city for 54 days before Ottoman cannons finally breached the city's walls in two places on 29 May of the same year.

[2] After holding Mass for one last time in Blachernae Palace with his generals, Constantine waited for the Ottomans to enter the walls. When they did, he tore off his Imperial regalia and led his remaining men in a desperate last defense of the city, though he would later die in the attack and was presumably buried with his men in a mass grave, as his body was never identified. The Ottoman Sultan who led the siege, Mehmet II , was successful in taking Constantinople due to his possession of an Apple of Eden . [2] Constantine Palaeologus the last Hellene emperor Fall of Constantinople Emperors | Photos | Constantinople | Prince islands | Phanar | Holy Mount Athos Constantine XI Palaeologos (1404-1453), also called Dragases, last Byzantine emperor , was born in 1404 in Mistra, was the son of Emperor Manuel II. He was trained as a soldier, and in 1430 liberated the peninsula of Morea in Greece, which had been under the Frankish principality of Achaia, a state established by the Crusaders.

In 1442 Turks under Murad, sieged Constantinople which was defended by emperor John VIII Palaeologos, while Constantine fought Turks in island of Limnos. There he lost his wife Katherine. Constantine XI was actually married twice and Katherine was his second wife. In 1444 Constantine with his brother Thomas Palaeologos and a small army liberated Roumeli and Thessalia. The Greek populations loved and admired their leader. They called him "Drakos". Those were the last victories of Byzantium. His friend was George Plithon or Gemistos a philosopher who created school of Philosophy in Athens. He was teaching Greek Philosophy in Mystras. He advised Constantine to take the property from church and rich men and to give it to the poor farmers. When John VIII travelled in Florence, he escorted him together with other Byzantine intellectuals. There Europeans argued with the Greeks about religion and Plithon told them: "Why are you arguing to unify the two churches? In the future there will be only one religion, and this is the union of christianism and the ideas of ancient Greeks." In 1446, the Turkish ruler Murad II reconquered and devastated these lands.

The Turks had begun their invasions of the Balkans nearly a century before, and now began to close in on Constantinople. Constantine was crowned emperor on Jan. 6, 1449, succeeding his brother, John VIII. The last Christian Greek Emperor entered, two months later, on March 12, the isolated Imperial capital. A little less than three years later, on Dec. 12, 1452, the union of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches was proclaimed in Constantinople in the presence of the papal legate and the Patriarch Gregory. Constantine had been a strong advocate of this union, but the people were generally opposed to it, and riots ensued. The popular insistence on Byzantine religious autonomy furthered the estrangement between eastern and western Roman Christendom and weakened Byzantine resistance to the Turks. Catholics never sent army or navy as they were commited to their agreement. They preferred the most glorious christian city to be destroyed and pillaged from the muslims.

In 1452 the sultan demolished the old church of Archaggelos Michael and constructed at the narrowest point of the Bosporus strait, a huge complex of strong fortifications, Rumeli Hisar, whose task was to shut completely, by its artillery, the route of western and Byzantine vessels to and from the Black Sea (Euxeinos Pontus). Indeed, on 26 November 1452, according to the Venetian doctor Nicolao Barbaro, a Venetian vessel under the command of Antonio Ritzo attempted to pass without paying the required tolls. It was sank by the new fortress's guns, its crew of thirty men was taken prisoners in Adrianople (Eridne). The officers and sailors were brought in front of Mehmed, who ordered their immediate impalement. The Turkish sultan, Mehmed II, advanced on Constantinople in the beginning of 1453. Troops came from every region of the Empire, including thousands of irregulars, from many nationalities, who were attracted by the prospect of looting. The regular troops were well equipped and well trained.

The elite corps of the Janissaries composed of abducted Christian children, forcibly converted to Islam, and subsequently trained as professional soldiers, constituted the spear-head of the ottoman army. The besieging army included a number of artillery pieces, which were made with the help of a Hungarian named Ourvanos. The hugest canons faced the Military Gate of St Romanus, and were expected to cause heavy damage to the 1000 year old walls in that area. The army, accompanied by crowds of fanatic Dervishes, started moving slowly towards Constantinople. A few towns, still in Greek hands, near the capital were soon occupied by the Sultan's army. Of those towns Selyvria resisted longer. His army included 200000 soldiers (29000 of them were Europeans). Constantinople was defended only by 10000 soldiers (3000 of them were Europeans mostly Italians). Among the Europeans, who had come to help, was the brave Giovanni Giustiniani. He was from Genoa where he had recruited 400 men and another 300 on the island of Chios.

Others were the cardinal Isidoros, who was of Greek origin, the latin bishop of Chios, Leonardos, the Venetian captains Kokkos, Trevizas, Aloisio, Contarini and a lot more people. Also, the help provided by the German engineer Johannes Grant was of great importance. Grant managed to destroy all the tunnels that the Sultan had attempted to build in order to enter the city. So the greatest christian city was defended only by some Greeks and some Italians. No other European leader accepted the emperor's appeal for help. The defenders lacked in training and armament but were possessed by fighting spirit. Indeed, most of them were killed fighting. The civilian population supported the emperor overwhelmingly. The people, men and women, participated in the repairs of the walls and in the deepening of the moat, volunteers manned observation posts, food supplies were collected, gold and silver objects, held in the churches, were melted to make coins in order to pay the foreign soldiers. With the exception of about 700 Italian residents of the city, who fled on board seven ships, on the night of February 26, no one else imitated them. The rest of the population, Greeks and foreigners, fought until the end.

On April 2, 1453 the city's harbor, the Golden Horn, was shut by a huge chain, and ten galleys were put behind to protect it. During the first week of April, the ottoman troops began taking their assigned positions in front of the city walls. The Sultan had his tent installed north of the Gate of St Romanus, near the river Lycus. He ordered the big canon to be installed in the same area. To protect the troops, a protective trench was opened in front of the ottoman units, the soil from it was accumulated on the city side and on top of it was erected a palisade. On the 12th arrived from Gallipoli the ottoman fleet. Composed of approximately 200 ships of various sizes and displacements, it sealed the byzantine capital from the sea. Mehmed's admiral was the Bulgarian renegade Suleiman Baltoghlu. On his side the emperor distributed his troops as best as he could. It was impossible, with the available garrison, to cover the entire walled circumference of the capital, about fourteen miles long.

However, it was clear to all that the main attack would be delivered by the enemy along the land-walls, about four miles long. With the exception of the Blachernae section of the walls, at the north-eastern end of the land side, the city was protected, on the land side, by a triple wall, with a deep moat in front of it. On the sea side, including the Golden Horn port area, the city was protected by a single wall. Given the availability of troops and the critical sections of the walls, Giustiniani, with most of his men, as well as Constantine Palaeologus and his best troops, took position in the St Romanus's Gate sector, where heavy damage was expected to be inflicted by the canon and the main ottoman assault to be launched. The Venetian Bailo (the Head of the Venetian Community at Constantinople) Girolamo Minotto and his countrymen were charged with the defence of the region of Blachernae, where the Imperial Palace was located. Minotto and his men faced the european troops of Karadja Pasha.

Across the Golden Horn, to the left of Pera, ready to intervene, stood the troops of Zaganos Pasha. Along the southern section of the land-walls the defenders faced the Anatolian troops under the command of Ishak Pasha. The Grand Duke Luke Notaras and Alexios Disipatos with a reserve unit took position near the walls, at the Petra neighborhood, in the north-eastern section of the city. Another reserve unit of 700 men under the command of Theofilos Palaeologus, Demetrius Cantakouzenos and Nicephorus Palaeologus was stationed near the church of the Holy Apostles, at the center of the city. Most units were positioned on and behind the land-walls. The sea-walls were thinly manned. To protect the entrance to the port, the Venetian commander of the small fleet of the defenders, Alviso Diedo, ordered ten ships to take position behind the chain. According to Islamic tradition the Sultan, before the beginning of hostilities, demanded the surrender of the city, promising to spare the lives of its inhabitants and respect their property. In a proud and dignified reply Constantine XI rejected Mehmed's demand.

Almost immediately the Ottoman guns began firing. The continuous bombardment soon brought down a section of the walls near the Gate of Charisius, north of the Emperor's position. When night fell, everyone, who was available, rushed to repair the damage. Meanwhile Ottoman troops were trying to fill the fosse, particularly in areas in front of the weak sections of the walls which were now constantly bombarded. Other units began attempts to mine weak sections of the wall. On the port area a first attempt by the Ottoman fleet to test the defenders' reaction failed. Until the end of the siege the Ottoman guns did not stop pounding the walls. Heavy damage was inflicted. The defenders did their best to limit it. They hanged bales of wool, sheets of leather. Nothing could help. The section of the walls in the Lycus valley, near the Emperor's position, was heavily damaged. The fosse in front of it was almost filled by the besiegers. Behind it, the defenders erected a stockade, Night after night men and women came from the city to repair the damaged sections. The first assault was launched during the night of April 18. Thousands of men attacked the stockade and attempted to burn it down.

Emperor and his Greek comrades fought valiantly. Well armed, protected by armor, fighting in a restricted area, they succeeded after four hours of bloody struggle to repulse the enemy. On Friday, 20 April, in the morning, appeared in the sea of Marmara, near Constantinople, five large vessels loaded with provisions for the city. Four were Genoese and one, a big transport, was Greek. The Greek captain's name was Flantanellas. Baltoghlu dispatched immediately his fleet to attack and capture the ships. The operation seemed easy and soon the ships were surrounded by the smaller Ottoman vessels. Everyone in the city, who was not busy with the defence, rushed to the sea-walls to watch the spectacle. The Sultan on horseback, his officers and a multitude of soldiers, rushed to the shore to watch the battle. Excited and unable to restrain himself, screaming orders at Baltoghlu, the young Sultan rode into the shallow water. Fighting, the big ships continued pushing the smaller ones, and helped by the wind they were now close to the south-eastern corner of the city. Then the wind dropped and the current began pushing them towards the coast on which stood the Sultan and his troops.

Fighting continued, with the Christian sailors hurling on the enemy crews stones, javelins and all sorts of projectiles, including Greek Fire. Eventually the four vessels came so close to each other that they became bound together, forming a floating castle. Around sunset the wind rose and the big ships, pushing their way through the mass, and the wrecks, of the enemy vessels, hailed by thousands of people who were standing on the walls, entered the Golden Horn. Next morning Baltoghlu was dismissed by the Sultan, who was so furious that he ordered the beheading of his admiral. The unlucky admiral was replaced by a favorite of Mehmed, Hamza Bey. This event convinced the Sultan and his commanders that the city had to be more tightly besieged and that the naval arm of the besieged had to be neutralized. Mehmed's ingenious plan, formulated before the events of April 20, consisted in bringing part of his fleet into the Golden Horn. Indeed, thousands of laborers had been building, for some time, a road overland from the Bosphorus, alongside the walls of Pera, to a place called Valley of the Springs, on the shore of the Golden Horn, above Pera.

On April 22 to the horror of the besieged a long procession of ships, sitting on wooden platforms were pulled by teams of oxen and men, over the road, into the port area. About seventy boats entered the Golden Horn. The leaders of the defence held immediately an emergency meeting. Various plans were discussed and it was finally decided to attempt to burn the enemy boats, which were in the Golden Horn. After a succession of postponments the attempt was carried out during the night of April 28. Betrayed by Italians from Pera, it failed miserably. Hit by Ottoman guns the Christian ships suffered heavy damage. About forty sailors captured by the enemy were tortured to death. Despite this failure the situation in the Golden Horn became, more or less, stable. Superior naval training, and better naval construction, eventually prevented Hamza's ships from inflicting serious damage on the allied units. However, the Sultan's idea was a military success. Indeed, in 1204 the Crusaders had assaulted the city from the sea-walls and the Greeks had not forgotten it. They feared a repetition of that assault.

On the land side the bombardment continued, more walls collapsed, and when night fell everyone rushed to close the gap, reinforce the stockades, build here and there. Moreover, food was wanting and the authorities did their best to distribute it equally. Worse, help was not coming. Everyone was watching and waiting for the sails of the Western ships to appear coming out of the Dardanelles. In early May a fast boat "Byzantine dromon" was sent out, to seek the allied fleet in the Aegean and tell its commanders to hurry. During the night of May 7 a new assault was launched against the damaged section, where Giustiniani stood. It failed again and then in the night of May 12 another came and failed. It was launched at the junction of the Blachernae wall and of the old Theodosian one. During that time mining and countermining continued. Sometimes fighting went on underground. Sometimes the tunnels collapsed and suffocated the miners. The German engineer Grant with barrels filled with water all around the walls, managed to discover the underground tunnels. On May 23 the dromon that had been sent out to locate the Christian fleet returned to the city.

Its crew brought bad news. Nothing was in sight. The defenders were alone, no help was coming. The men of the crew, obeying their duty, decided to return to the doomed city. Realizing that everything was lost Constantine's chief advisors begged him to leave the city. He could still get out and seek help. His father Manuel II had done the same in 1399, at the time of the blockade of the city by Sultan Bayazid. The Emperor refused to discuss the issue. He had already decided to stay in his capital, fight for it and perish. Meanwhile, rumors were circulating in the Ottoman camp about the Venetians finally mobilizing their fleet, or about the Hungarians preparing to cross the Danube. The siege was going on without end in sight. The Sultan's Vizier Halil Chandarli, who was also informer of the emperor, had strong reservations about the siege from the beginning. He was worried about western intervention and he looked upon the whole operation with anxiety. During a meeting of the Sultan's advisors, held on May 25, the Vizir told Mehmed to raise the siege. Pursuing it might bring unknown consequences to Ottoman interests.

The Sultan, also depressed because of the prolongation of the operation, finally decided to launch a grand scale final assault on the city. He was supported by younger commanders like Zaganos Pasha, a Christian converted to Islam. Halil was overruled and all present decided to continue the siege. While the artillery continued pounding the walls without interruption, preparations for the big assault, which was to take place on Tuesday 29 May, were accelerated. Material was thrown into the fosse which faced the collapsed ramparts, scaling-ladders were distributed. The Magistrates of Pera were warned not to give any assistance to the besieged. The Sultan swore to distribute fairly the treasures found in the city. According to tradition the troops were free to loot and sack the city for three days. He assured his troops that success was imminent, the defenders were exhausted, some sections of the walls had collapsed. It would be a general assault, throughout the line of the land-walls, as well as in the port area. Then the troops were ordered to rest and recover their strength. In the city everyone realized that the great moment had come.

During Monday, May 28, some last repairs were done on the walls and the stockades, in the collapsed sections, were reinforced. In the city, while the bells of the churches rang mournfully, citizens and soldiers joined a long procession behind the holy relics brought out of the churches. Singing hymns in Greek, Italian or Catalan, Orthodox and Catholic, men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, clergy, monks and nuns, knowing that they were going to die shortly, made peace with themselves, with God and with eternity. When the procession ended the Emperor met with his commanders and the notables of the city. In a philosophical speech he told his subjects that the end of their time had come. In essence he told them that Man had to be ready to face death when he had to fight for his faith, for his country, for his family or for his sovereign. All four reasons were now present. Furthermore, his subjects, who were the descendants of Greeks, had to emulate their great ancestors. They had to fight and sacrifice themselves without fear. They had lived in a great city and they were now going to die defending it.

As for himself, he was going to die fighting for his faith, for his city and for his people. He also thanked the Italian soldiers, who had not abandoned the great city in its final moments. He still believed that the garrison could repulse the enemy. They all had to be brave, proud warriors and do their duty. He thanked all present for their contribution to the defence of the city and asked them to forgive him, if he had ever treated them without kindness. Constantine asked Guistiniani to take his beloved Anna Notara to his ship, so that she whould not fall in the hands of the enemy. Everyone knew the fate of of those who whould be alive when Turks entered in the city. Meanwhile the great church of Saint Sophia was crowded. Thousands of people were moving towards the church. Inside, Orthodox and Catholic priests were holding mass (THE LAST CHRISTIAN SERVICE AFTER 1000 YEARS). People were singing hymns, others were openly crying, others were asking each other for forgiveness. Those who were not serving on the ramparts also went to the church, among them was seen, for a brief moment, the Emperor. People confessed and took communion.

Then those who were going to fight rode or walked back to the ramparts. They prayed and chanted for the last time the "Akathistos Hymn" in front of the holy icon of "Odigitria", an icon of Virgin Mary, made by Apostole Loukas. The next day most of them whould be dead. From the great church the Emperor rode to the Palace at Blachernae. There he asked his household to forgive him. He bade the emotionally shattered men and women farewell, left his Palace and rode away, into the night, for a last inspection of the defence positions. Then he took his battle position. The assault began after midnight, into the 29th of May 1453. Wave after wave the attackers charged. Battle cries, accompanied by the sound of drums, trumpets and fifes, filled the air. The bells of the city churches began ringing frantically. Orders, screams and the sound of trumpets shattered the night. First came the irregulars, an unreliable, multinational crowd of Christians and Moslems, who were attracted by the opportunity of enriching themselves by looting the glorious city, the great capital of the East Roman Empire.

They attacked throughout the line of fortifications and they were massacred by the tough professionals, who were fighting under the orders of Giustiniani. The battle lasted two hours and the irregulars withdrew in disorder, leaving behind an unknown number of dead and wounded. Next came the Anatolian troops of Ishak Pasha. They tried to storm the stockades. They fought tenaciously, even desperately trying to break through the compact ranks of the defenders. The narrow area in which fighting went on helped the defenders. The could hack left and right with their maces and swords and shoot missiles onto the mass of attackers without having to aim. A group of attackers crashed through a gap and for a moment it seemed that they could enter the city. The were assaulted by the Emperor and his men and were soon slain. This second attack also failed. But now came the Janissaries (what an irony that they were born Greek Orthodox), disciplined, professional, ruthless warriors, superbly trained, ready to die for their master, the Sultan. They assaulted the now exhausted defenders, they were pushing their way over bodies of dead and dying Moslem and Christian soldiers. With tremendous effort the Greek and Italian fighters were hitting back and continued repulsing the enemy.

Then a group of enemy soldiers unexpectedly entered the city from a small sally-port called Kerkoporta, on the wall of Blachernae, where this wall joined the triple wall. Fighting broke near the small gate with the defenders trying to eliminate the intruders. It was almost day now, the first light, before sunrise, when a shot fired from a calverin hit Giustiniani. The shot pierced his breastplate and he fell on the ground. Shaken by his wound and physically exhausted, his fighting spirit collapsed. Despite the pleas of the Emperor, who was fighting nearby, not to leave his post, the Genoese commander ordered his men to take him out of the battle-field. A Gate in the inner wall was opened for the group of Genoese soldiers, who were carrying their wounded commander, to come into the city. The soldiers who were fighting near the area saw the Gate open, their comrades carrying their leader crossing into the city, and they thought that the defence line had been broken. They all rushed through the Gate leaving the Emperor and the Greek fighters alone between the two walls. This sudden movement did not escape the attention of the Ottoman commanders.

Frantic orders were issued to the troops to concentrate their attack on the weakened position. Thousands rushed to the area. The stockade was broken. The Greeks were now squeezed by crowds of Janissaries between the stockade and the wall. More Janissaries came in and many reached the inner wall. Meanwhile more were pouring in through the Kerkoporta, where the defenders had not been able to eliminate the first intruders. Soon the first enemy flags were seen on the walls. The Emperor and his commanders were trying frantically to rally their troops and push back the enemy. It was too late. Waves of Janissaries, followed by other regular units of the Ottoman army, were crashing throught the open Gates, mixed with fleeing and slaughtered Christian soldiers. Then the Emperor, realizing that everything was lost, removed his Imperial insignia, and followed by his cousin Theophilus Palaeologus, the lord Branas, the Castilian Don Francisco of Toledo, Katakouzinos, Mathaios Sgouromalis and John Dalmatus, all seven holding their swords, charged into the sea of the enemy soldiers, hitting left and right in a final act of defiance. They were never seen again.

Now, thousands of Ottoman soldiers were pouring into the city. One after the other the city Gates were opened. The Ottoman flags began appearing on the walls, on the towers, on the Palace at Blachernae. Civilians in panic were rushing to the churches. Others locked themselves in their homes, some continued fighting in the streets, crowds of Greeks and foreigners were rushing towards the port area. The allied ships were still there and began collecting refugees. The Cretan soldiers and sailors, manning three towers near the entrance of the Golden Horn, were still fighting and had no intention of surrendering. At the end, the Ottoman commanders had to agree to a truce and let them sail away, carrying their arms. Bands of Ottoman soldiers began now looting. Doors were broken, private homes were looted, their tenants were massacred. Shops in the city markets were looted. Monasteries and Convents were broken in. Their tenants were killed, nuns were raped, many, to avoid dishonor, killed themselves. Killing, raping, looting, burning, enslaving, went on and on according to tradition. The troops had to satisfy themselves.

The great doors of Saint Sophia were forced open, and crowds of angry soldiers came in and fell upon the unfortunate worshippers. Pillaging and killing in the holy place went on for hours. Similar was the fate of worshippers in most churches in the city. Everything that could be taken from the splendid buildings was taken by the new masters of the Imperial capital. Icons were destroyed, precious manuscripts were lost forever. Thousands of civilians were enslaved, soldiers fought over young boys and young women. Death and enslavement did not distinguish among social classes. Nobles and peasants were treated with equal ruthlessness. According to Historian Frantzis the invaders broke the heads of those women who resisted, on the floor of the churches and they raped them dead. The famous icon of Apostole Loukas was totally destroyed. The sultan asked for the young sons of Duke Loukas Notaras. Their father refused and Mehmed was ready to take their heads. Notaras asked him to kill him after his sons so that he was sure that they were dead and not disgraced from the pervert sultan. And this is what happened.

In some distant neighborhoods, especially near the sea walls in the sea of Marmora, such as Psamathia, but also in the Golden Horn at Phanar and Petrion, where local fishermen opened the Gates, while the enemy soldiers were pouring into the city from the land Gates, local magistrates negotiated successfully their surrender to Hamza Bey's officers. Their act saved the lives of their fellow citizens. Furthermore their churches were not desecrated. Meanwhile, the crews of the Ottoman fleet abandoned their ships to rush into the city. They were worried that the land army was going to take everything. The collapse of discipline gave the Christian ships time to sail out of the Golden Horn. Venetian, Genoese and Greek ships, loaded with refugees, some of them having reached the ships swimming from the city, sailed away to freedom. On one of the Genoese vessels was Giustiniani. He was taken from the boat at Chios where he died, from his wound, a few days later. By the evening of the first day of looting there was left nothing else to steal. The Sultan, with his top commanders and his guard of Janissaries, came into the city in the afternoon of the first day of occupation.

Constantinople was finally his and he intended to make it the capital of his mighty Empire. He toured the ruined city. He visited Saint Sophia which he ordered to be turned into a mosque. He also ordered an end to the killing. What he saw was desolation, destruction, death in the streets, ruins, desecrated churches. It was too much. It is said that, as he rode through the streets of the former capital of the Christian Greek Empire, the city of Constantine, moved to tears he murmured: "What a city we have given over to plunder and destruction". The sultan show in front of many houses the symbol of half moon. He asked why was this symbol everywhere, and they told him that this symbol was dated from the time of 340 b.c. when Philipos Macedonian did not manage to take Byzantium. Ancient Byzantines has since that victory, preserved this symbol. Sultan liked it and added to it a star. So was formed the turkish flag which terrorized for many centuries the christian states. So a civilization of 1100 years old was lost in some days. The barbarians didn't respect anything holy icons, books, paintings, mosaics.

They demolished and vandalized churches, ancient monuments, palaces dated from 4th century. Nevertheless the ideas did not vanished. Turks didn't manage to vanish the Hellenic spirit. Many Greeks like Byssarion, Dimitrios Kavakis, Georgios Xaritonimos, Ieronimos of Sparta fled to Europe where they spread the ideas of Socrates, Platon, Aristotelis, Aeschylus, Archimidis, Homer, Euripides, Solon. Turks must be grateful to the "civilized" Europeans for helping them taking and still keeping this City. Send comments about this site to: Webmaster Bibliography

Question: Constantine XI Palaiologos was the last ruler of which empire?
Answer: Byzantine